Dracula Untold Blu-ray ReviewMar 03 2015 01:15 AMDracula Untold games its thrones on Blu-ray with an edition that presents this leaden reboot of the Dracula franchise in solid high definition, with an army... Read More

It's back...the 7th Annual HTF October Scary Movie Challenge. I know we've all been waiting for it, and now the month is finally (almost) here. I'm sure most of you have been around for some of the previous incarnations, but just in case this is your first time these are the rules Mitty first posted with a few small revisions from myself:

1. Watch 13 Scary/Horror/Halloween-Themed films before midnight on October 31, 2005 (use your own timezone to set the ending time).

2. Two of the above must be new discoveries, movies you've never seen before. The point of this is to see those few movies you've always meant to see, but never got around to. I recommend more than 2, but 2 is the minimum to pat yourself on the head and say you completed the challenge. Please specify new discoveries in your film list by making them bold, adding asterisks, different colors, etc.

3. If you were part of the challenge last year, no more than two of the same films can be RE-watched. I'll grant a couple since some movies (ie. Halloween, Rocky Horror) are simply tradition and I'm willing to give credit for these. (Revision: This only applies to those going for the 13 movie challenge)

4. Come here and talk about 'em.

5. There is an uber-category, the Ultimate Splatter Challenge for those who wish to put all of the rest of us to shame. This is the heavyweight division. These people, if they choose to accept the challenge, must view 31 horror/scary/Halloween themed movies before dawn on Nov. 1st. The rest of us will bow down in awed reverence to these truly "Splatterific" HTF members. The bragging rights will be awesome and long lived.

6. There has been discussion over the past two years as to what movies qualify. Is Silence of the Lambs a horror movie? Does The Nightmare Before Christmas count? From now on, if you wanna include it, go for it. There will be no hairsplitting. If The Wizard of Oz send you to the dresser for a fresh pair of boxer shorts, all the power.

Last year's turn-out wasn't as crazy as 2004, but it as still up there. I know that I personally didn't get to watch as much as I wanted (thanks to work), but hopefully 2006 will be even stronger. Here's the Ultimate Splattter-Head turnout from 2005:

We didn't have much of a race last year. Michael actually wasn't officially participating, but how could you not include such an impressive entry. Martin easily bested the rest of us. Regardless of the counts, the discussion is what we're really here for, and I'm sure this year will be as good or better than the previous years. Just around the corner, we've got the TCM prequel, so we've already got something to look forward to (well, some of us at least ). As always, I hope you stick around and have a great time. Good luck to all!

Should we make a new post for every new movie we watch, or Just make one post and edit it every time we want to add new movies (To help cut down on total thread length)?

"Did you know that more people are murdered at 92 degrees Fahrenheit than any other temperature? I read an article once. Lower temperatures, people are easy-going, over 92 and it's too hot to move, but just 92, people get irritable."

Last year most would post updates on the films we watched for discussion and then update a running list on a early page like above. Hence the place holders from guys like me who are going out of their mind waiting for 12am Oct 1 to hit. (I picked up "MOH-Imprint" today, so I'm starting with that )

"Did you know that more people are murdered at 92 degrees Fahrenheit than any other temperature? I read an article once. Lower temperatures, people are easy-going, over 92 and it's too hot to move, but just 92, people get irritable."

It seems the wife's rampant credit card abuse has put the kibosh on my original plan to use Netflix's '8 at a time' plan. So I'm going to re-prioritize my original goals for the 2006 challenge.
1. Watch 13 foreign horror movies I have never seen before
2. Watch all 31 to get an Ultimate Splatter-Head mention. But many of these will be domestic releases, and movies I've seen before.
*For this challenge all of my 13 foriegn films will be non-english european-languaged films. I don't have anything against Japan, but there have been so many J-horror DVDs released in the USA in the last year I just wanted to get a break from the endless Ring/Eye/Grudge knock-offs. Maybe for 2007 I'll do the all Japanese language challenge.

"Did you know that more people are murdered at 92 degrees Fahrenheit than any other temperature? I read an article once. Lower temperatures, people are easy-going, over 92 and it's too hot to move, but just 92, people get irritable."

I've done 34 two years in a row, so I'll try to better that. I stick almost exclusively to new viewings (I think my first year all 34 were new), but I would like to rewatch "Halloween", "Session 9" and maybe "Ju-On: The Grudge" or "Pulse" (Japanese versions). I'm still a fan of the J-Horror atmosphere, but there does seem to be a law of diminishing returns happening...I've got some in my zip.ca queue that I hope will rectify that somewhat.

The Toronto After Dark Film Festival is happening this month, so I've got 4 tickets already lined up for that (though not all horror). The new Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Retribution) and Pang Brothers (Re-Cycle) will both be selections of mine.

Hey All,
Here's my place holder. I'm still away at the film festivals - Shriekfest LA now, and I won't be getting back until Oct. 3rd. Luckily I'm at a horror fest, so I'll be catching a couple flicks on SUnday - but Monday and Tuesday are pretty much gone. Oh Well. It's really too bad that last week didn't count. I was at FantasticFest in Austin and I saw a ton of horror flicks.
One film in particular every single person here needs to see. It's called Hatchet. It played at Tribeca last year and it's been making it's run around the circuit. It's getting a theatrical release in January. The film is simply put, the BEST FUCKING HORROR FILM released in years. It is so well written and funny and has unbelievable gore! I've never seen an audience go so crazy for a film in my life and I am willing to say it is actually the best movie experience of my life - the energy in the room was astounding! It won the AUDIENCE AWARD for best of fest. The director, ADAM GREEN, is such an amazing guy too. Just a cool cat who is the genuine article. He really takes the time to listen to all his fans and shoot the shit - hanging out with them till all hours of the morning. So go see Hatchet in January!
All right - I'm so excited to get this challenge on! I'm not going to get the 54 of last year - but I am comitting to watching 1 a day. So hopefully with couple marathons on weekends, I'll be able to get around 40.
I hope everyone has as much fun as we've had in the past years! Looking forward to everyone's reviews.
Cheers,
Jason

2004: 59
2005: 45
I'm not sure whether I can participate or not, mainly because I'm starting a tradition of saving my 31 favorite Universal Horror oldies for me to watch every October, and that means I'll always be watching many of these same films every year (plus a few different ones as they get thrown in here and there too). And there's not much point talking about the same movies over and over each year.
So maybe Matt can let me know if this qualifies. Otherwise, I don't mind stepping out.

Go for it, Joe. I half-considering nixing the re-watch rule anyway. It made sense the first couple of years, but now that some of us have literally watched hundreds of horror movies over these last 7 years, re-watches are fine. We'd love to hear your thoughts!
Leaving for work now (ug), but should be able to watch two or three when I get back tonight.

Note: "Fun Factor" -- When a film has few/no technical or acting/writing/directing merits, but is entertaining despite (or because) of this, I give it an additional "Fun Factor" rating, if its normal rating falls below three stars.

I can definitely watch 13 movies before Halloween and I should be able to pull off 31 movies.
Starting at midnight on October 1 and I'll stop at midnight on October 31, I watched:
10/01/06
1. Dr. Giggles I caught it at midnight on Universal HD and it was bad as I remember.
2. Halloween II My favorite Halloween sequel. It's not the best movie and I've seen this movie more times than I want to admit but I still love it.
3. A Nightmare On Elm Street It's been quite since I've seen it. I waited for the challenge to watch the DVD and I wasn't that bothered by the new transfer but the missing sound effects stuck out like a sore thumb to me.